


You Earned It

by EndlessGloaming



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Angst, Book 02: Words of Radiance, Canon Compliant, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23306821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessGloaming/pseuds/EndlessGloaming
Summary: A missing scene after Kaladin and Shallan fall into the chasms. In the book we didn't see Dalinar (or Adolin) react to believing that Kaladin and Shallan were dead. That didn't seem right.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	You Earned It

**Author's Note:**

> Parshendi attack right when the bridge falls in the chasm, and at least some fighting ensues. This is set right after that fight ends.

The Parshendi army was retreating, jumping in thick waves onto the far plateau, even as Dalinar's army crossed its bridges back to the west.They'd never turned to harry before, but their behavior and tactics had been erratic lately, so Dalinar was on edge and didn't trust them to follow their old patterns.

One of the former bridgemen--the one Kaladin had given his Shards to, Moash--trotted up to Dalinar."Sir, we need to stop and look for Kaladin."

"He's dead, soldier."

"Kaladin...has a way of surviving, sir."

Dalinar sighed. "What do you propose we do? That chasm is hundreds of feet deep. We have no rope or ladder nearly that long. And no, before you ask, even Shardplate can't survive that kind of fall."

The man's jaw flexed, then he seemed to deflate, an odd thing to see in a man wearing Plate. He nodded, then turned away. Grumbling, he walked back to the other bridgemen. He got under the bridge, right in the middle, in his Plate. The rest of the bridgemen were probably doing little more than keeping the thing balanced, but they all stayed in their positions.

 _There are worse ways of working out grief than running with something heavy on your shoulders_ , Dalinar thought. Moash had cut through Parshendi like a storm. What he lacked in skill with the Blade, he made up for in zeal, fueled, Dalinar suspected, by rage and loss. The bridgemen loved their leader.

The Parshendi continued their retreat, a full empty plateau between them. Some of Dalinar's concern could turn to other things now. It could, at least in part, be the _later_ in _grieve later_.

Adolin's hands clenched and unclenched on Sureblood's reins, and small muscles around his mouth twitched. He kept glancing back toward the place where the bridge had fallen into the chasm.

Dalinar rode Gallant up next to Adolin and patted him consolingly on the back. "There was nothing you could have done, son."

Adolin's head fell. "I was just getting to know her and I think I already cared about her more than any of the other women I've courted. It just seems so unfair, to have it cut off before we could even see where it went." Adolin paused, brows knitting. "And bridgeboy. He saved your life twice and mine three times, and today probably counts as one more for both of us. I know it was his job, but...storms, he never hesitated to risk himself."

Dalinar nodded. That was the problem with men who were willing to sacrifice themselves: they wound up dead in the line of duty.

Guilt washed over Dalinar. He shouldn't have kept Kaladin in prison that long. The boy had just gotten out and he'd obviously hated it there, and now, less than a week later, he was dead. And, perhaps worse, he'd died thinking Amaram would never face justice for what he'd done to Kaladin. Dalinar was days from springing his trap on Amaram, and already all too sure he was guilty. It was always a shame to lose a good soldier, but in this case, it seemed particularly galling. And tragic.

Dalinar should have done better by that boy.

_May you fight proudly beside the Heralds in the Tranquiline Halls, young soldier. You earned it._


End file.
